METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING CONCRETE PRODUCTS

Abstract: A method and equipment for casting concrete products so that the hardening reaction of the concrete is speeded up by adding carbon dioxide to concrete mix. The gas is led into concrete mix having a viscosity suitable for slide casting while compacting the concrete mix in a slide casting machine, before the concrete mix is shaped into a final product in an extruding nozzle.

Description: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CASTING CONCRETE PRODUCTS. This invention relates to a method for casting concrete products so that the hardening reaction of the concrete is speeded up by adding to concrete mix an additive which speeds up this reaction and which is led into concrete mix having a consistency suitably stiff for slide casting while compacting the concrete mix in a slide casting machine, before the concrete mix is formed into a final product in an extruding nozzle. The invention also relates to equipment for casting concrete products having one or several cavities by slide casting method of pressurized concrete mix, which equipment has a mould part moving on a casting bed and formed by side and top surfaces and also forming a compaction chamber, and in connection with this one or several compacting members, and which equipment is provided with means leading into the compaction chamber at feeding screws for leading the additive into the concrete mix. Carbon dioxide is known to speed up the hardening reaction of concrete. The use of carbon dioxide in concrete technology has been described i.a. in FI patent publications 66139 and 72965. FI patent publication 66139 describes a vacuum concreting method, wherein the concrete product is hardened by first subjecting the concrete mix to negative pressure and by then leading carbon dioxide into the product's capil¬ laries. FI patent publication 72965 describes a method where¬ in carbon dioxide is used to harden concrete sprayed in a fluid state so that carbon dioxide is introduced into the concrete mix before spraying, and carbon dioxide is also used as a propellant in the spraying process. US patent publication 4 927 573 describes a method com¬ parable with the method described in the above FI patent publication 66139. According to the US publication, press¬ urized carbon dioxide is supplied into concrete mix which is under pressure in a mould to speed up hardening. The carbon dioxide is supplied only when compacting of the concrete product is completed and the product has been given its final shape, whereby the gas works only on the surface of the product. Since the gas is supplied into a fixed mould, out- side the finally shaped product, the gas must be under a very high pressure. Thus, using carbon dioxide as an accelerator of the hardening reaction of concrete is known as such, but the problem is how to bring about a functioning method in production operations. CH patent publication 323 266 describes casting of elongated profile beams of concrete by using an extrusion method. However, the device described in this publication is not a moving casting machine and it is not suitable for casting prestressed concrete products. The publication mentions the use of additives which increase elasticity or bring about quick binding. The additives are supplied to the concrete mix during the compaction and forming stages, before final shaping. However, the publication does not describe specifically what kind of additives are used. Various liquids or solid materials were generally used in the prior art as concrete additives for the mentioned purposes. They were intended among other things to reduce the stiffness of the concrete mix or to either accelerate or slow down hardening. A known slide casting method and equipment for casting hollow-core slabs is described in FI patent publication 70821. Casting is by the extrusion method and as a continuous process by using concrete mix of a relatively stiff consist- ency. This is brought under pressure into the mould part of a casting machine moving on a bed, which mould part is formed by side faces and a top face located against the bed. The mould part also forms a compaction chamber, wherein the concrete mix is compacted with the aid of feeding screws and compacting mandrels. The feeding screws bring about a casting pressure in the concrete mix causing the casting machine move on its bed while the concrete is discharged. The concrete is of a sufficiently stiff consistency for the cast product to maintain its shape while discharging from the casting machine. However, in the conventional slide casting method the problem occurs, among others, that the top face of the cast hollow-core slab tends to sag at the cavities, whereby, for example, quite a large amount of separate levelling material must be applied at the building stage to make the slab form an even floor. This increases building costs as regards both labour and materials. The method in accordance with the present invention is characterized in that the additive is carbon dioxide gas; that the carbon dioxide discharging from a pressure vessel is heated to keep its temperature above 0°C, preferably at least at 18°C; that the overpressure of the carbon dioxide is about 1 - 20 at, preferably about 10 at; that the quantity of the carbon dioxide measured at atmospheric pressure is about 0.1 - 3 times, preferably 0.5 - 1 times the volume of the concrete mix; and that carbon dioxide is supplied to the concrete mix not more than 60 seconds, preferably 1 - 30 seconds before the final compaction of the concrete. The equipment according to the invention is characterized in that the means for leading the additive comprise one or several nozzles for feeding pressurized gas and a flow meter connected to each nozzle. When carbon dioxide is supplied to the concrete mix it displaces air in the pores in the concrete mix and reacts with the calcium hydroxide in the concrete mix. This known reaction is the following: Ca(OH) 2 + C0 2 = CaC0 3 + H 2 0 As the carbon dioxide is binding, a negative pressure of about 1 at results from the reaction, which promotes the compaction of the concrete. At the same time, resulting calcium carbonate fills all remaining pores. Solid material is brought about in the concrete instead of the gas. The resulting negative pressure makes the pores compress under the effect of outside pressure. In this way a chemical reaction together with a physical phenomenon bring about efficient compaction. In consequence, the volume weight of the concrete mix increases by about 50 kg/m 3 compared with conventional extruder casting not using the treatment by carbon dioxide according to this invention. Using the method according to the invention, a final product is obtained on an industrial scale with a density which is even as much as 99.7 per cent of the theoretical maximum density. This is a significant improvement over previously known concrete products made by slide casting. As a result, also other properties of the product improve, such as waterproofness and durability. Previous mechanic compaction methods did not allow such complete removal of air from relatively dry concrete mix suitable for slide casting. The strength and density of the product improve not only due to the removal of air but also because they are improved by the calcium carbonate which becomes part of the concrete mix in consequence of the reaction. The compacting screw of the casting machine creates a pressure in the concrete mix, which again speeds up the reaction mentioned above. As the reaction is very quick, it is important to feed the gas into the concrete as late as possible before its final shaping. However, feeding must be performed already during com¬ paction, before the compaction pressure of the concrete has risen so much that it will resist the feeding of gas. When feeding the gas at a suitably early stage at the front end of the compacting screw, only the hydrostatic pressure will exist in the concrete, but there will not yet be any compaction pressure created by the conical compacting screw. At this stage the gas is made to mix well with the concrete mix. By using carbon dioxide, the fresh strength of the concrete is increased, for which reason slab saggings are smaller, and smaller manufacturing tolerances are achieved on the whole. The product's cross-section remains as designed and less material is wasted in this regard. The increased early strength achieved with the method facilitates and speeds up the handling and moving of the cast products, because there is less risk of breaking of e.g. corners. The strength of the cast slab after e.g. 6 hours may increase by about 10 - 20 per cent compared with the prior art. This clearly accelerates the production process as a whole. This means that either a quicker process with the same quantity of binder (cement) is obtained, or the quantity of the binder can be reduced while the speed of the process remains the same. In some cases the product's wall thickness may be reduced, because even less strength in the finished product will be sufficient in several applications. According to the invention, carbon dioxide is supplied into the concrete mix just before the compaction stage. The preferable time between the feeding of carbon dioxide and concrete compaction is about 1 - 30 seconds, depending on the casting speed of the machine producing the product, on the cement quality and on the temperature of the concrete mix. When carbon dioxide is supplied into the compaction chamber, it displaces air in the concrete mix which has not yet compacted. At the time of feeding carbon dioxide into the concrete mix, the carbon dioxide must have the correct pressure, a suitable overpressure being about 1 - 20 at, preferably about 10 at. The gas flow must be controlled exactly so that too much gas will not discharge. Discharging too much gas in one go from the gas bottle would result in an excessive vapor¬ ization space and thus also in excessive cooling of the gas. To bring about the correct gas flow, each gas feeding nozzle must be provided with a flow meter of its own, for example, with a rotameter. The gas must also be heated constantly, so that when discharging it will not cool but its temperature will remain at over 0°C all the time, preferably at about 18 - 30°C. Heating, too, requires exact control. A suitable gas quantity is about 0.1 - 3 times the concrete volume, whereby the gas volume is expressed at atmospheric pressure. By supplying gas into the concrete mix before this has been formed into a final product, the gas pressure will not be applied to the mould itself and will thus not put any stress on the mould, which happens when gas is fed onto the surface of an already formed product. By a suitable carbon dioxide quantity and temperature, desired properties may be chosen for the concrete, for example, increased fresh strength. Other gaseous substances may also be led into the concrete mix which have desired effects on the properties of the concrete mix. Compacting the concrete under pressure speeds up and intensifies the desired effects obtained by using carbon dioxide. It is a known fact that chemical reactions can usually be speeded up by increasing the pressure. Leading carbon dioxide into the concrete mix while at the same time compacting it and increasing its pressure thus brings about a very quick reaction. The invention and its details are described in the following, referring to the enclosed drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side view of the equipment according to the invention; Figure 2 shows the gas supply arrangement of the equipment according to the invention; and Figures 3a and 3b show the shear surfaces of a product made with the method according to the invention and with a prior art method, respectively. The slide casting machine is known as such. It moves on a bed 1 carried by wheels 2. Concrete mix is supplied from a hopper 3 onto conical feeding screws 4, of which the equipment has one or several 'in parallel. A compacting mandrel 5 is a continuation to each feeding screw. The feeding screws and compacting mandrels are surrounded by a top wall and side walls, which form a compaction chamber together with the casting bed. The concrete mix is compacted inside these, around the compacting mandrels, and is formed into a hollow-core slab as the casting machine is moving to the right in the figure under the effect of a reaction force of the concrete mix which is pressurized by the feeding screws. The machine moves at a speed of about 0.5 - 3 m/min, preferably about 1 - 2 m/min, depending on the cross- sectional area of the product to be cast. A higher speed can be used with smaller cross-sectional surfaces. In the equipment according to the invention the slide casting machine is combined with a carbon dioxide vessel 6, from which a gas supply pipe 7 leads to each feeding screw. The length of nozzle part 8 of the supply pipe is chosen so that gas will enter the concrete at the right time, that is, about 1 - 30 seconds before final compaction of the concrete. The supply point depends on the machine's speed of progress and on the concrete quality. The nozzle part has one or several holes, from which the gas is discharged into the concrete mix. Figure 2 shows in greater detail two carbon dioxide bottles 6 and how these are connected to the gas supply pipe 7. Gas flows from each bottle by way of control valve 8 into an adjustable heater 9 and then by way of control valve 10 to rotameter 11. Figures 3a and 3b show photographs of a product made with the method according to the invention and with a prior art method, respectively. Using a diamond drill, a cylindrical piece was cut off the products made with both methods. Photographs were taken of the shear surface and enlarged 6 times. The pictures clearly show the difference between the products. The product made by using carbon dioxide is perfectly compact, whereas the product obtained without adding any carbon dioxide has large pores and air bubbles. An example is given in the following of mix proportions of concrete mix for use in the method according to the invention and of the effect of carbon dioxide on the fresh strength of the product. A trial run was performed with a one-tube extruder, that is, using a device provided with one feeding screw followed by a compacting mandrel. A concrete pipe results as the product. The concrete mix fed into the extruder had the following mix proportions: Stone aggregate 2010 kg/m 3 Cement 330 kg/m 3 W/C (water-cement ratio) 0.40 The feeding of C0 2 was arranged from below the feeding screw in such a way that the gas flowed into the fresh concrete at the rear end of the screw, about 80 mm before the beginning of the compacting mandrel. The corresponding point of time is about 10 seconds before final compaction. About 1 litre of gas was supplied for every one litre of concrete mix moving through the casting machine (the gas volume is ex¬ pressed at atmospheric pressure, before its compression in the pressurized concrete mix) . The fresh strength of compacted concrete was valuated firstly by a pipe loading test by pressing whole cast pipes until they broke and secondly by loading pipe wall pieces with a penetrometer. In the pipe loading test, the pipe rested on its side on a bed and it was pressed by a horizontal loading plane. The loading force was measured. The test samples were tested immediately after casting. The pipe loading test showed that C0 2 -treated pieces with¬ stood an average load of 450 g per pipe length centimetre, whereas the untreated samples collapsed of their own weight so that no proper measurements were obtained. In the penetro¬ meter test, the values for treated pieces were about 1.5 times higher than those for untreated ones. Tests were also done by using more gas, whereby fresh strength values which were even 2 - 3 times higher were obtained. Other tests were also done both with laboratory equipment and with full-scale production equipment, that is, with a hollow-core slab slide casting machine of the extruder type. In the performed tests, the method was found to work in the expected way. The above is a description of an application of the method to a slide casting machine equipped with feeding screws. Hollow-core slabs are cast also by using a so-called slip- form device having none of the feeding screws described above. Fresh concrete of sligthly more fluid consistency is used in the device and compaction is by vibration. The hydrostatic pressure of the concrete mix creates the casting pressure. The method according to the invention can also be applied in such a method. It may then suffice to lead carbon dioxide only onto the top surface of the product. In this way, the top surface is hardened and it is prevented from sagging at the cavities. The method is suitable for use not only in casting hollow- core slabs but also when casting other products produced by slide casting.

Claims: Claims 1. A method for casting concrete products so that the hardening reaction of the concrete is speeded up by adding to concrete mix an additive which speeds up this reaction and which is led into concrete mix having a consistency suitably stiff for slide casting while compacting the concrete mix in a slide casting machine, before the concrete mix is shaped into its final form in an extruding nozzle, characterized in that the additive is carbon dioxide gas; that the carbon dioxide discharging from a pressure vessel is heated to keep its temperature at above 0°C, preferably at least at 18°C; that the overpressure of the carbon dioxide is about 1 - 20 at, preferably about 10 at; that the quantity of the carbon dioxide measured at atmospheric pressure is about 0.1 - 3 times, preferably 0.5 - 1 times the volume of the concrete mix; and that carbon dioxide is supplied into the concrete mix not more than 60 seconds, preferably 1 - 30 seconds before the final compaction of the concrete mix. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the main part of the air in the concrete mix is replaced with carbon dioxide. 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the desired effects of carbon dioxide on the concrete mix are controlled by the quantity of carbon dioxide led into the concrete mix. 4. A method according to any of claims 1 - 3, character¬ ized in that by adding carbon dioxide, the volume weight of the product is increased by at least 35 kg/m 3 , preferably by about 50 kg/m 3 , compared with a product made without adding carbon dioxide. 5. Equipment for casting concrete products having one or several cavities by a slide casting method of pressurized concrete mix, which equipment has a mould part moving on a casting bed (1) and formed by side and top surfaces and also forming a compaction chamber, and in connection with this one or several compacting members (5) , and which equipment is provided with means (7, 8) leading into the compaction chamber at feeding screws (4) for leading additive into the concrete mix, characterized in that the means for leading the additive comprise one or several nozzles (8) for feeding pressurized gas and a flow meter (12) connected to each nozzle (8) . 6. Equipment according to claim 5, characterized in that it is provided with means (10) for heating gas discharging from a pressure vessel (6) into the compaction chamber.

Inventors: RAUTILA MATTI, RAUTILA, MATTI
Applicants: PARTEK CONCRETE OY AB, RAUTILA MATTI, RAUTILA, MATTI
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B28B3
IPC codes: B28B1, B28B7, C04B40